Free Designing by Viola Grace Page A

inside.
    “Damn.”
    He heard a noise that was familiar. Birds. He followed a narrow path around the corner of the stone wall until the path ended. Sighing with curiosity, he removed his cloak and fluffed out his wings.
    He flexed them a few times and then launched himself into the darkness of the space between mountains. His wing beats were heavy, but it eased as he worked out into the light and the warmer air lifted him until he was facing an entire flock of absolutely huge raptors.
    The giant birds watched him warily as he settled on a thick jutting branch. He looked at the birds carefully, and he spotted two of them wearing what appeared to be saddles. The way the woman had been heading to the back of her home, she had something distracting on her mind, and there was nothing more distracting than flying. He simply had to wait, and perching in the tree was second nature.
    She would come out to ride one of her birds, and he would make his pitch in the air.
     
    * * * *
     
    Ula felt a little guilty about closing the door on the man from the Nine, but she was so tired of folks wanting to use her talent for military purposes that it was a reflex she now regretted.
    She sighed and quickly braided her hair. She knew just the thing to clear her head, and the flock was right outside.
    A quick change into riding gear and she was ready to go for one of her personal pleasures and fly through the Gaian sky.
    The rocs were nice birds and large enough to carry a human without difficulty, but they were impossible to domesticate. She didn’t have any issue with domestication; she rode them wild.
    Ula clicked her tongue rapidly, and one of the birds screeched in response. Outside her balcony was a rock suitable for a landing site, and her favourite bird came at her call.
    “Good afternoon, Bertrum.” She clicked her tongue again, and he settled onto the perch she had built for him. “Ready for some exercise?”
    Bert settled and let her mount. She slid her feet into the stirrups and latched her flying belt into the saddle. Bertrum and his mate Eleth wore her saddles constantly. They were the only rocs that didn’t fight her every time. Ula suspected that the two birds actually thought of the harnesses as some kind of mating bands. They certainly clung together and preened when they were wearing them.
    Once she was in place, she made a low chuffing noise and Bert took off. It was time to get the only freedom she had anymore; it was time to ride the wind.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Her eyes teared until she pulled her goggles into place. Bert was in fine form today. He wheeled, darted and spiralled around the cliffs of her home until she could do nothing but hang on for dear life.
    Once he had gotten used to her weight, Bert began to climb.
    She clung to him as he headed straight for the clouds. As the roaring in her ears eased, she heard a strange noise. There were heavy wing beats nearby, and they didn’t belong to a roc.
    She turned her head and had to blink several times behind her goggles. There was a flying man gaining on them, and he bore a startling resemblance to the Nine representative who had been at her door.
    She rocked back in her stirrups, and Bert slowed his forward progress. She shouted. “What the hell?”
    “I would like to speak with you, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to make that meeting happen.” He flew next to them and smiled brightly at her as he kept pace.
    “You have wings.”
    “I do. Now, shall we continue this conversation on the ground or do you want me to continue to pace you?”
    She was so startled, she gave Bert the signal to land. He spiralled down, and she dismounted on a rocky strut jutting from the canyon below. Bert shuffled and took off, leaving her alone with the winged rep.
    Ula put her hands on her leather-clad hips and looked up at the lean man looking down at her. “So? Talk.”
    “I would like you to come to the mother ship and take a look at our research and development